Jess Lodge

Jess Lodge is a journalist for ABC Wide Bay based in Bundaberg, reporting for radio, TV and online. She previously worked at ABC Capricornia, but made the move south to the Wide Bay region of Queensland in 2016. She tweets from @jess_lodge.

It all started with the iconic Bundaberg Rum, but now the region that's home to Queensland's rum city is pouring award-winning craft beer, liqueur, gin and vodka, opening a new avenue of tourism for the area.

Every weekend during the racing season George Simpson will be out on the road somewhere in southern Queensland. He's got a precious cargo on board - hundreds of racing pigeons waiting patiently in cages for the gate to drop. When released the birds will race against the clock back to their home bases, putting their speed and remarkable sense of direction to the test. George is known as 'the liberator' - the person responsible for releasing the birds at the right spot at the right time.

Supermarket giant Woolworths is banning single-use plastic bags from today ahead of a statewide ban taking effect next month. The bags take years to break down, and many end up in the environment polluting oceans, rivers and beaches.

A country Queensland property is transformed into a battlefield during filming of the Vietnam War movie Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan, boosting the region's economy and putting a small town on the map.

Since Mihali was born seven months ago his parents have spent hundreds of dollars a month on feeding tubes to keep him alive. It's a cost faced by thousands of parents nationwide, but now Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt is reviewing their plight.

Kerri Walker's two adult children were killed last year by a careless driver who was fined $3,000 and lost his licence for three months. Now her petition for tougher penalties, which garnered 8,000 signatures, has been tabled in Queensland Parliament.